One of the most overlooked skills needed to build a sustainable business is the ability to set healthy boundaries.
I came across a great quote by Henry Cloud recently that said, “Boundaries are basically about providing structure and structure is essential in building anything that thrives”.
I know we all want our businesses to fall into the thriving category, so today we’re going to talk about how to establish healthy boundaries, and also how to uphold them well in our businesses.
Struggling to Set Boundaries?
If you struggle with setting boundaries, it’s really important to remember that it’s not selfish to set them. If anything, it actually enables you to serve your clients at a higher and more consistent level over a longer period of time because:
- You’re less likely to get burnt out
- You will have a greater appreciation for your client/customer relationships
- You’ll avoid building resentment where boundaries are being crossed
Another interesting thing that happens when we establish boundaries is it cements you as an expert.
Your clients will feel safe and taken care of knowing that you are in control, and there’s a great deal of safety and comfort that comes from knowing they can rely on you to take care of what you promised to do.
In order for you to set healthy boundaries that will enable you to run a business that you love for an extended period of time, there’s three important steps to consider:
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Determine What Your Boundaries Are
That might sound a little silly, but sometimes we can struggle to really articulate our boundaries.
I encourage you to take a step back and to think through where your big rocks are with questions such as:
- What are the things that are the most important to you?
- Are there certain days of the week that you would like to work or not work?
- Are there certain hours in your day that you want to set aside for work time?
- What are your priorities?
- Are there certain things with your family that you never want to miss?
- Are you always there for family dinner?
- Do you need to be around to drop your kids off at school or pick them up afterwards?
Your answers will likely look different than the next person’s.
I know we all stepped into entrepreneurship for some type of freedom, and it’s vital that we set boundaries that enable us to enjoy that by being present in the lives of the people that we care about and showing up for ourselves in our own lives in the way we want to.
One thing that I found to be very helpful was to think back to previous client or customer relationships where I felt like my boundaries weren’t being respected.
Even if I wasn’t aware of at the time, but in retrospect I can see there was some type of tension or friction that enabled me to not feel like I was fully stepping into the role that I wanted to in my business.
Think back to those things and start to outline where those lines are for you that you don’t want crossed.
Once you’ve had a chance to work through all of these things – the days and times that you work, turnaround time that clients and customers can expect for correspondence and for tasks being done, etc., – take the time to put together a “How I Work” document that really outlines all of these things.
This makes it incredibly clear so, going forward, there is no question where it is that those guidelines are for you and your business.
Share Your Boundaries
The second step is to tell everyone else what your boundaries actually are, and there are three important groups to consider.
1. Your Family
Especially as a lot of us have transitioned to working remotely, it’s really important that your family is on the same page with the schedule that you’ve set for yourself.
Have honest conversations about when you’re starting and finishing work, and when you need quiet to be on calls or to do certain types of deep work. Open dialogue here will ensure that you’re able to continue on in a way that’s sustainable.
2. Your Clients
Obviously, with new clients that are coming on, this is a little bit easier to address because you’re just beginning to establish your business relationship.
It’s important that you make your boundaries very clear from the start so they know exactly what to expect – and there are no unpleasant surprises down the road.
For existing clients, this can be a little bit more complicated because you already have a pre-existing relationship with them. You’ll need to decide how you want to handle this with the clients that you already have. It could be that they are grandfathered in, and only your new clients are the ones that will have these new boundaries applied to them.
Whichever route you choose, communicate clearly through the process!
Please remember that these boundaries are being put into place to ensure that you stay healthy and continue doing the work that you’re doing at the highest possible level for an extended period of time. If you’re headed towards burnout, there’s probably some changes that need to be made to ensure that doesn’t happen.
3. Your Team
In order for your team to help you uphold your boundaries, be very clear about what you have decided and where you might need extra support.
Also, communicate how the boundaries might impact what times of day you take meetings, when you respond to messages and notifications, how you can be reached in an emergency – and what actually constitutes an emergency.
Uphold Your Boundaries
It’s important to remember that you’re the one who’s responsible for this.
If you don’t uphold your stated boundaries, nobody else is going to do it for you.
It’s really important to make sure that you are doing this consistently – every time those boundaries are pushed up against you need to be willing to stand firm and point them back to the boundaries that you stated.
That being said, there’s always going to be circumstances where there are emergencies. The nice thing about having your boundaries stated is that you get to choose if you’re willing to step over them or not.
For example, if you don’t typically work on a Sunday, and a client comes to you with an emergency, you get to choose to either say “I’m sorry, I can’t deal with this until Monday morning”, or to step outside your boundaries as a one-off thing and help them with whatever it is that’s going on.
If you choose the second option, it’s really important that – after you’ve served them with excellence – you reiterate this was a one-time only thing due to the emergency.
This allows you to step back into upholding your boundaries on a regular basis and making sure that it doesn’t become something that’s expected that you will do over and over again.
Remember – you are setting and upholding these boundaries so it will enable you to work in your business and to do the thing that you love for as long as you want to be able to do it.
We want to make sure that your business is sustainable so that you can keep serving your people.
If you’re not in a position to be able to serve them a couple years from now, think of all of the people that will lose out on the privilege of working with and receiving help from you and your business.
As a quick recap, you want to clearly articulate what your boundaries are, make sure you tell the right people, and then ensure that you are upholding them on a regular basis.
I love helping entrepreneurs build businesses that they love to work in where they get to serve their people, use their talents and their gifts, and have an amazing impact.
Not only that, I want business owners to be able to live their lives to the fullest as they’re growing their businesses.
It’s really important that those two things are in alignment so that you can continue to do this for many, many years to come.
I hope that you found this helpful! I would love for you to drop a comment below letting me know what’s one area of your business where you know you need to set some boundaries.
